Did you know your social media news feeds are being rigged?
I read an
article not too long ago about how social media, primarily Facebook, filters our news feeds. The things we post, the things we "like" (affirm), any of our activity on Facebook is remembered and used to generate content in our news feeds that is generally in line with our personal preferences and opinions.
For instance, if you're openly Christian, then you're probably going to see more Bible verse posts, posts about faith, pro-life posts or church posts.
If you're openly gay, you might see more posts of people who share the same lifestyle, news that promote equality, or sites that offer jobs that don't discriminate.
If you're in college, you might see posts about campus life, classes, music app updates, Buzzfeed lists or popular YouTube videos.
Basically, the posts you see largely cater to your life stage and lifestyle. Unfortunately, the way this system filters our feeds can affect how we view people, life, society and culture.
On Instagram and Twitter, we can choose who we follow. If we don't like someone's posts, we can easily "unfollow" them. We filter through who we want to keep up with and what we want to know. And this can also tailor our outlook on life.
It's basically the same thing as committing to not watching the news. Crazy enough, in college (although I was a journalism major), I preferred not to keep up with local news. I lived in Memphis, one of the most dangerous cities in the USA, and frankly, I chose not to watch the local news because I wanted to live in blissful ignorance of what was really going on around me.
But I realize now that I was being selfish and close-minded.
I understand that it's important to keep up with what's going on – not just in nearby areas, but everywhere. I think this is important especially for Christians to know what's going on, and how to respond. By simply tuning into social media on a broader level, we can become aware of what's going on in our world, and our own posts and presence can surprisingly make a big difference. Here are three things we ought to keep in mind:
#1 We should be culturally relevant.
If we block out the world, how can we change it? Find out what's trending, what's viral, what people are really talking about. Then line it all up with Scripture, and ground yourself in God's Word (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Romans 12:2 says "
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." So basically, we should be
in the world, but not
of the world.
Plus, if we are staying culturally relevant, we can more easily relate to people who don't believe in Jesus, and form relationships we wouldn't have been able to otherwise. All of this may ultimately help us with the mission of effectively and lovingly sharing the Gospel. Here are a few account types I have thought of that might help us stay more current:
- People We Know on a First Name Basis (Remember those old friends from high school and earlier? We may not see them every day in person, but this helps us remember how we can pray for them more specifically – even if they don't know it.)
- Culturally Influential People (examples: Jimmy Fallon, Ellen Degeneres, Justin Timberlake, Kim Kardashian, Oprah, Lebron James, etc.)
- Well-known Publications (examples: Time, New York Times, CNN, The Onion, Huffington Post, Gizmodo, Wired, Ted Talks, The Thought Catalog, etc.)
- Christian Influential People/Organizations (examples: John Piper, Lecrae, doctrinally-sound well-known churches, ERLC [Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the SBC], Dr. Russell Moore, World Magazine, etc.)
#2 See People as God Sees People.
God exhibits extreme patience and understanding toward us. It's hard to comprehend because
we can have such a difficult time with having patience and being understanding toward others. Thankfully, God shows us grace and mercy every day, and is so patient with every person (2 Peter 3:9). And that is a great example of how we should be toward others.
When we see people's angry, negative or unbecoming posts pop up on our news feeds, instead of loudly exhaling and checking "unfollow,"
we can pray for them.
Life is hard without Jesus. We need to have compassion for those who have not yet come to believe in Him. We can't expect non-Christians to retain Christian values.
To them, it's just a bunch of rules with no meaning. Life is also hard for Christians who have chosen not to walk in the Spirit. It is human nature to fall away if we're not grounding ourselves in His Word every day. As the church, we are to encourage each other toward Jesus, and be at peace with everyone. And we can do this with our social media presence.
#3 We have an influential voice online.
We can be encouraging
and
real online. We
can be relevant and understanding toward others,
speaking the Truth in love. Everyone has access to read what we post. We must be
mindful that everything we say can affect someone else. And
we need to always be prepared to make a defense for the Gospel (1 Peter
3:14-16). Let's share our joys and sorrows tactfully. And lastly, let's choose our
words carefully – as we should at any other time – remembering that we
must maintain a good reputation because we represent Christ (1 Peter
2:12).
Be the light in your friends' news feeds. You just never know who's reading. :)
